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ETJL.OGY 



CHARLiES CARROLL. 



CARROL. L.TON. 






I 



EULOGY 



CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 

DELIVERED AT THE REQUEST 



or 



THE SELECT AND COMLMOW COUNCII.S 



The City of Philadelphia. 



December 31 «t, 1833. 




BY JOHN SERGEANT, I.I..D. 



Philadelphia : 

PRINTED B\' liYDIA R. BAILED, 
No. ae North Fifth Street. 
^ 1S33. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Philadelphia, January 4, 1833. 

Sir, 

At a meeting of the City Councils, we had the honour to 
be appointed a Committee to carry into effect the following 
joint resolution. 

Resolved, That the thanks of the Select and Common 
Councils be presented to the Hon. John Sergeant, for his 
eloquent Eulogy on the late Charles Carroll of Carrollton, 
and his exposition of the constitutional terms of our national 
Union, delivered at the request of Councils, on Monday 31st 
ultimo, and that a copy thereof be requested for publication. 

In discharging the pleasing duty thus devolved upon us, 
and soliciting you to comply with the wishes of the Coun- 
cils, we use the occasion to add the expression of our admi- 
ration for your public and private character, and the assurance 
of the high respect with which we are. 

Your obedient servants, 

JOSEPH R. CHANDLER, 
SAMUEL P. WETHERILL, 
JAMES GOWEN, 
LAWRENCE LEWIS, 
JOHN P. WETHERILL, 
JOSllUA LIPPINCOTT, 

To the Hon. John Sergeant. 



Philadelphia, January 4, 1833. 
Gentlemen, 

Your note of this date, communicating the Resolution of 
the Select and Common Councils, has been received, and in 
compliance with their request, I hand you a copy of the Eu- 
logy. 

The manner in which the Councils have been pleased to 
notice my effort to fulfil their wishes upon this interesting 
occasion, is highly gratifying. Be good enough to make my 
acknowledgments to them for their kindness. 

1 beg you also to be assured of the sensibility with which 
I have received the very kind and flattering expressions of 
respect and regard from the Committee, and, with my ac- 
knowledgments, to accept the assurance of the respectful 
consideration of. 

Your friend and fellow-citizen. 



JOSEPH R. CHANDLER, 
SAMUEL P. WETHERILL, 
JAMES GOWEN, 
LAWRENCE LEWIS, 
JOHN P. WETHERILL, 
JOSHUA LIPPINCOTT, 



JOHN SERGEANT. 



> Esquires, Committee. 



Philadelphia, January 4, 1833. 

Rt. Rev. Sir, 

We were appointed at a meeting of the Councils on 
Thursday last, a Committee to carry into effect the following 
joint resolution of those bodies. 

Resolved, That the thanks of the Select and Common 
Councils be presented to the Rt. Rev. Bishop White, for his 
services on the occasion of delivering the Eulogy on Charles 



Carroll of Carrollton, and that he be respectfully requested 
to furnish for publication a copy of the prayer used on that 
occasion. 

The discharge of the duties imposed by the above resolu- 
tion, is rendered doubly gratifying by the opportunity it 
affords us of expressing to you our individual esteem for your 
character, and our ardent wish that your life, consecrated as 
it has been to the services of your country, and the good of 
your fellow men, may be prolonged, with every blessing 
that can attend on honoured age. 

We are, with great respect. 

Your obedient servants, 

JOSEPH R. CHANDLER, 
SAMUEL P. WETHERILL, 
JAMES GOWEN, 
LAWRENCE LEWIS, 
JOHN P. WETHERILL, 
JOSHUA LIPPINCOTT, 

Rt. Rev. William White, D. D. 



i-i 



To the Honourable, the Committee of the City Councils. 

January 7, 1833. 
Gentlemen, 
I have received the honour of your communication of the 
4th instant, and, in compliance with it, enclose to you a co- 
py of the short prayer delivered by me, preparatory to the 
splendid Eulogy of Mr. Sergeant. 

It does not occur to me, that the prayer is in any respect 
worthy of the notice with which you have honoured it, fur- 
ther than as evidence of the devotional solemnity accompa- 
nying the late exhibition. 

I am, gentlemen, respectfully, 
Your very humble servant, 

WILLIAM WHITE. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Fellow Citizens, 

We are assembled to pay a tribute of respect to a lately 
deceased statesman of our national republic. While this is 
a reasonable dictate of gratitude to him through whose in- 
strumentality eminent services have been received; it ought 
not to be without acknowledgment of the source of the be- 
nefit, in the bounty of the Supreme Bestower of it. Let us, 
therefore, on this occasion, raise our hearts in thankfulness 
to Almighty God, for what he has graciously given to us in 
the person of the venerable deceased. 



"Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; 
thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is in 
heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us 
our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; 
and lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. 
Amen." 



"0 Lord, our heavenly Father, the high and mighty 
ruler of the universe, who dost from thy throne behold all 
the dwellers upon earth ; most heartily we beseech thee, 
with thy favour to behold and bless thy servant, the presi- 
dent of the United States, and all others in authority; and 
so replenish them with the grace of thy Holy Spirit, that 



they may always incline to thy will, and walk in thy way: 
endue them plenteously with heavenly gifts; grant them in 
health and prosperity long to live; and finally, after this 
life, to attain everlasting joy and felicity, through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. Amen/' 



" Most gracious God, we humbly beseech thee, as for the 
people of these United States in general, so especially for 
their senate and representatives in congress assembled; that 
thou wouldest be pleased to direct and prosper all their con- 
sultations, to the advancement of thy glory, the good of thy 
church, the safety, honour, and welfare of thy people; that 
all things may be so ordered and settled by their endeavours, 
upon the best and surest foundations, that peace and happi- 
ness, truth and justice, religion and piety, may be estab- 
lished among us for all generations. These, and all other 
necessaries for them, for us, and thy whole church, we 
humbly beg in the name and mediation of Jesus Christ, our 
most blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen." 



Most gracious God and Father — we render to thee our 
thanks for the good examples of all those thy servants, who, 
having served our cou;itry at different times, and in different 
spheres of usefulness, now rest from their labours. Espe- 
cially we acknowledge thy goodness in the services of thy 
lately deceased servant, the survivor of the signers of the 
Instrument under which our commonwealth has risen to 
consideration and to power, among the sovereignties of the 
earth. May his name be an incentive to worthy conduct, 
with all who shall come after him in our public councils. 
May posterity, while they shall inherit the lustre of his 
virtues, enjoy the benefit of his labours. And may there be 



s 

• 
with us a succession of great and good men, to the glory of 
thy name, and to the benefit of thy people, to the end of 
time. Finally, we pray « that we, with all these thy 
servants, who have departed this life in the true faith and 
fear of thy holy name, may have our perfect consummation 
and bliss in body and in soul, in thy everlasting kingdom, 
through Jesus Christ our Lord.'* 



"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of 
God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all 
evermore. Amen." 



i^ ■H'^- 



EULOGY. 



Friends and Fellow Citizens, — 

In the history of our Country, the most memorable 
epoch is that of the Declaration of Independence. The 
most illustrious assemblage of patriots, that which de- 
clared it. The act, favoured by Providence, has be- 
come, as it were, immortal. Independence was esta- 
blished once and for ever. The men, by whom it was 
achieved, have in succession obeyed the law of our 
nature, and we are now met to commemorate the event, 
which has finally closed the living record of that au- 
gust body. The last of the signers has been united to 
the mighty dead. Long spared to receive the aiFec- 
tionate homage paid by a grateful nation to the single 
representative upon earth of the Congress of 1776, to 
witness the kindly and expanding influence of the in- 
stitutions and principles which he had aided to esta- 
blish, even to look upon three generations of his own 
immediate descendants, partaking, with millions, the 
blessings prepared for them by the toils and the dan- 
gers of himself and his cotemporaries, he too has be- 
come one of ^^ the great majority" whom death always 
numbers on his side, and of him, as of the rest, no- 
thing now remains but the memory. 

Thus has the Congress of 1776 again been united 
after a long separation. Among the dead as among 



10 

the living, they are associated, in our views and feel- 
ings, by their common title to preeminent distinction 
for wisdom, for patriotism, and for heroic courage, 
and by their common claim to our gratitude and vene- 
ration, for their virtues and their services. If all have 
passed away, they have not done so, without leaving 
to us the possession of their pure fame to enrich us, their 
spirit to instruct, and their example to guide us. Che- 
rishing their fame, and resolving to preserve it unim- 
paired, counselling sincerely with their spirit and 
obeying its counsels, and truly following their bright 
example, we may hope, with the blessings of Heaven, 
to perpetuate the good work which they have handed 
down to us, and to continue long to enjoy its advan- 
tages. 

At such a moment, it is natural to look back. The 
occasion invites us to reassemble the fathers of our na- 
tion, to place them again, to the eye of contemplation, 
in the Hall of Independence, to dwell upon their cha- 
racter and conduct, and to consider with deep and 
earnest attention, who were the men, and what were 
the means they employed, to lay the foundations of a 
great republic. Hitherto, they have been among us. 
Not all of them. Of the fifty-six distinguished patri- 
ots, whose names are ineifaceably inscribed upon the 
monument they constructed, two were summoned from 
time to eternity, before a year had elapsed. Forty- 
seven survived the struggle of war with the parent 
state, and lived to witness the final consummation of 
their wishes, by an acknowledgment in the treaty with 
England, of what her arms were unable longer to dis- 
pute. Forty-three remained when the present Con- 



11 

stitution was presented by the Convention to the peo- 
ple of the United States for their adoption. Forty 
were still here to shed the light of their experience, 
and the influence of their spirit, upon the first move- 
ments of the government, when that Constitution went 
into operation. From these, as the years rolled on, 
the sure arrow continued to select its object. But not 
•with eager haste. At the end of fifty years, three of 
the venerable band were still among the living. On 
the fiftieth anniversary, in the midst of the jubilee, 
when the nation with one voice was commemorating 
the day of the great national act which had made us 
independent, two of them gently sunk to rest, and their 
spirits departed while the hearts and the voices of 
their countrymen were swelling with gratitude to them 
and their associates for the blessings secured by their 
services and their toils. One only remained — the ve- 
nerable Carroll. Fifty-six years were accomplished, 
and he too was removed, the last of the fifty- six who, 
in the sight of man and of Heaven, had solemnly 
pledged ^^ their lives, and fortunes, and their sacred 
honour,^' to abide the issue of their country's fortune. 
And who were these men? What was the pledge 
they thus solemnly offered, and so nobly redeemed ? 
What were '^ their lives, and fortunes, and their sa- 
cred honour," which they staked in the cause of human 
freedom and of human rights? What was that assem- 
blage of patriots, who in proclaiming their determina- 
tion to be free, proclaimed at the same time the great 
principles which are every where acknowledged to 
have the irresistible power of truth? How did it hap- 
pen that the youngest nation of the earth became the 



• 12 

teacher of the world ; that the true light of political 
philosophy broke forth from a region where the forest 
was not cleared, and the footstep of civilized man seem- 
ed scarcely to have made a sensible impression? Where 
dwelt that informed and assured spirit, which, leading 
an infant nation, never hesitated and yet never erred 
— which in the face of difficulty and danger, through 
a new and untried path, always advanced, yet never 
missed its course; which by intrepid perseverance, 
accomplished its glorious purpose, so fully, so wisely, 
and so well, that its friends had nothing to desire, and 
its enemies nothing to censure? 

It was much to declare independence — it was more 
to achieve it, in so unequal a contest — still more was 
it, by a display of wisdom and firmness, never surpass- 
ed, to fix the attention of the world, to challenge its 
admiration, and command its respect, not only for the 
justice of our cause, but for the ability and virtue with 
which it was sustained — to exhibit popular represent- 
ative government, at the outset, in its best form, and 
to give to mankind at once an example and an assur- 
ance of its capacity to fulfil all the just purposes for 
which government was designed among men. 

In the sight of other nations, the glory of that illus- 
trious Congress is sufficiently established by its public 
acts, already consecrated in the page of history. For 
us, who, as their countrymen, are not only the heirs 
of their glory, but bound by every obligation, to them, 
to ourselves, and to our children, to preserve it in all 
its lustre, and especially to maintain in purity and 
power, the institutions of free government they esta- 
blished for us, it may not be unprofitable to look care- 



13 

fully and closely into whatever belongs to its compo- 
sition and character, in order that no circumstance, 
however minute, may escape our notice. The present 
is a fit occasion for some attempt at such an examina- 
tion, and, I am persuaded, that even if it should be 
found to be fruitless of instruction, it will certainly not 
have the effect of lessening our habitual respect for 
those whom we rightly consider the fathers of our coun- 
try. 

The common characteristic of the Congress of 1776 
is pure public virtue — the striking feature of its mea- 
sures is mature wisdom. Upon the foundation of vir- 
tue and wisdom, thus happily united, they built up 
the edifice of their own enduring fame, by achieving 
for their country what in all succeeding ages will con- 
tinue to engage the unqualified respect and admiration 
of mankind. Passing in a moment from a state of co- 
lonial dependence into the new condition of an inde- 
pendent nation — making this transition, too, in the 
midst of a sanguinary and unequal struggle already 
begun, and at the certain hazard of a war of undefined 
duration, brought to their very doors, and threaten- 
ing to deal with them not as fair combatants, but as 
traitors and as rebels, it is amazing, indeed, and ar- 
gues a depth of intellectual and moral energy of which 
history has furnished no parallel, that at such a time, 
they should not only have been fully equal to all the 
pressing exigencies of the crisis, but even more than 
this, that they should have been able to make an ac- 
curate survey of the condition of their country, to look 
forward to its future destinies, to combine it into one 
great republic, and at the instant when they firmly 



14 

but solemnly declared they had ^^ counted the cost," 
should have announced those great principles of free 
government which were to enter into all our constitu- 
tions. To call this heroic, would be to associate it in 
our imaginations with the fabulous achievements of a 
remote antiquity, and thus to disfigure and degrade 
it. To compare it with what the great lawgivers of 
antiquity have done, would be entirely inadequate. 
To confound it with what accident has produced at 
other periods, and in other quarters of the world, 
would be to sink it far below its proper level for fore- 
sight and deliberate conclusion. Whatever there is 
that is worthy of praise in the heroes of fable or of 
history, whatever there is that commands our appro- 
bation in the works of lawgivers, whatever of good 
there is that patriotism has been able to accomplish, 
— all these combined, and purified by the spirit of 
philanthropy, and governed by consummate skill, and 
sustained by unconquerable fortitude, make up the 
true portrait of that august assembly. 

The honour we derive from these our ancestors, 
who carried our country triumphantly through the 
perilous trials of the war of independence, and estab- 
lished for us the principles of free government, which 
are now pervading the world, consists not simply in 
the reflection upon us of the lustre of their wisdom and 
their virtue, glorious and inestimable as it is. There 
is much more for us to rejoice in — much more to con- 
vey to us a deep and salutary lesson. That Congress 
was a popular representative body, freely chosen by 
the people of the thirteen colonies, and sustained by 
that people in its decisions and its acts. At the first 



15 

meeting in Carpenter's Hall, on the 5th September 
1774, eleven of what in the Journal are denominated 
** the several colonies and provinces in North Ame- 
rica" were represented. On the 4th July 1776, the 
whole thirteen were present by their delegates. The 
selection of such a Congress is a manifest proof of wis- 
dom and virtue in the people ; and the spirit and the 
energy with which they sustained the measures of Con- 
gress under all the trials and sufferings of a protracted 
and cruel war, establish for ever, that they too under- 
stood and appreciated their object, and were one and 
all resolved to accomplish it, or to perish in the at- 
tempt. The representative body was in this respect 
the image of their constituents. They were selected 
for their worth, and that worth was made up of a heart 
entirely devoted to the common purpose, and of a 
mind so instructed as to be capable of executing it. 

Of the composition and character of such a body, 
its acts may be considered in general as a sufficient 
exponent. It is perhaps enough for History. But we 
may be excused, if with the affectionate veneration of 
children, proud of the inheritance of a parent's fame, 
anxiously desirous to exhibit and to preserve it in all 
its lustre, and to transmit it in the clearest light to our 
descendants, we dwell for a moment upon the particu- 
lars of the title, convinced as we are, that the closest 
scrutiny will only more distinctly reveal its strength. 
Nor is this all. We may deduce from the inquiry les- 
sons of instruction peculiarly appropriate at the pre- 
sent moment. 

But where shall we begin? How shall we enter 
upon the analysis which filial piety would thus invite 



16 

us to institute, or how shall we conduct it? The oc- 
casion necessarily limits us to a few particulars, but 
those it is hoped will be sufficient at once to gratify 
and to instruct us. 

It is natural to begin then with the places of their 
birth. A few words will suffice. Of the fifty-six 
members who signed the Declaration of Independence, 
ten were natives of Massachusetts — nine of Virginia — 
five of Pennsylvania — five of Maryland — four of New 
Jersey — four of Connecticut — four of South Carolina 
— three of New York — two of Rhode Island — and two 
of Delaware — making altogether forty-eight, who were 
born in the colonies. Of the rest, two were natives 
of England — two of Ireland — two of Scotland — and 
one of Wales. Of the remaining one I have not met 
with an account which enables me to speak. 

We are anxious next to know something of their age. 
Were they in the ardour of youth, when zeal is apt to 
outrun discretion, and a romantic spirit prompts to 
undertakings of danger, from the mere love of adven- 
ture or the influence of a heated imagination? No- 
thing could be more distant from the truth. There 
sat the venerable Franklin, in his seventieth year, and 
Bopkins within a few months of the same age, grasp- 
ing the pen to assert their country's independence 
with a heart as resolute and a countenance as firm as 
Rutledge or Lynch, the most youthful of the body. 
Samuel Adams, too, and John Hancock, excepted in 
the offers of mercy held out by the crown, as the un- 
pardonable ringleaders in rebellion, were not so young 
as to be unable to count the cost, or to be hurried into 
danger from want of reflection. The one was fifty- 



17 

four^ the other was about forty. John Adams was 
forty, and Thomas Jefferson was thirty-three. There 
were in the whole convention but two who were un- 
der thirty, Rutledge and Lynch of South Carolina. 
They were twenty-seven. To sum it all up in a sin- 
gle word, which conveys at once a distinct conception 
of the finest combination of deliberate gravity and 
manly resolution, the average age of the whole assem- 
blage was about forty-five. 

Nor were they men tossed up in the whirl of a re- 
volution, distinguished chiefly by revolutionary auda- 
city, and that audacity itself owing to the knowledge 
that they had nothing at stake, and nothing to lose. 
Among them were many who had all that as individu- 
als they could desire, and little to hope, for them- 
selves, from a change. Indeed I doubt not that the 
observation might be applied universally. John Han- 
cock, signalized, we have seen, as an unpardonable re- 
bel, and the first of the signers, was in the enjoyment 
of the largest estate in Massachusetts. Charles Carroll 
of Carrollton was the heir of perhaps the richest man 
in Maryland. Heyward, Middleton, Lynch, Floyd, 
Nelson, and many more, were gentlemen of indepen- 
dent fortunes, to which they had been born. Others, 
by their talents and their industry had gained a com- 
manding position in society ; and in their private con- 
dition, might be considered amongst the happiest of 
men. Would you desire to know in what proportion 
the different professions and pursuits of life contributed 
from their numbers to form this Congress? It is not 
easy to ascertain it with precision. Of a part, how- 
ever, an account can be given. There were sixteen 
c 



18 

• 

lawyers — nine merchants — five physicians — five plant- 
ers — three farmers — and one divine. Of the remaining 
seventeen, no single word will characterize them. 
What, for example, should we denominate the venera- 
ble Franklin? Even at the period we are treating of, 
with the snow of seventy winters on his head, and a 
reputation which extended over all Europe, his tri- 
umphant career was not ended, nor the versatility of 
his mighty powers fully developed. He was yet to 
conduct the most important and delicate foreign nego- 
tiations of his country, and to sit down at table with 
kings, honouring them by his presence more than they 
could honour him. We must call him Franklin — a 
name that requires no addition, but is itself an epitome 
of the achievements of sagacious wisdom, applied in 
almost all the departments of life, and from their va- 
riety become familiar to every class of men. 

There is one point still to be adverted to in relation 
to this distinguished assemblage. It may be stated in 
a very few words. The greater part of those who com- 
posed it had been liberally educated. Of the fifty-six 
members, eighteen were graduates of Colleges in this 
country. Three were graduates of the University of 
Cambridge in England — and one, of the University of 
Edinburgh. Seven had received their education at other 
public seminaries. Fourteen had been instructed in 
liberal learning by private tutors or intelligent parents. 
Eight had received some elementary education, and 
of three the early history has not been learned. But 
nature was not entirely without her witnesses upon 
this eventful occasion. Two there were, who were 
literally self-taught — who had never received the least 



19 

instruction from others, and, yet, overcoming the dif-' 
ficulties of their early condition, had accomplished 
themselves in knowledge by their own unaided exer- 
tions — become distinguished in a learned profession, 
and qualified for association with the selected wisdom 
of the country. These were Sherman and Walton, 
one of whom was originally a shoemaker, and the other 
a carpenter. 

In the whole number there was not a single titled 
personage, nor one who in the established language of 
Europe would have been called a statesman. Perhaps 
there were few, if any, who, according to the settled 
arrangements of European etiquette, could then have 
been received at court. Several there were, such as 
Hancock, Carroll, and others, who had visited foreign 
countries, and enjoyed the opportunity of observing 
society in its different forms. One too had occupied a 
sort of semi-diplomatic station, as agent in England of 
several of the colonies, and even in that humble cha- 
racter had found occasion to manifest and to exercise 
his transcendant abilities, and with keen and penetrat- 
ing glance to discern and seize upon the occasions for 
serving his country. When Franklin stood before the 
collected wisdom of the British House of Commons, as 
a witness, he exhibited a wisdom above them all. When 
he stood alone, and in the midst of enemies before the 
Privy Council, he was as unmoved by the deliberate 
and pitiful sarcasm of Wedderburn, as when he drew 
down the lightning from the clouds — in both instances, 
with an intrepidity equal to his deep sagacity, coolly 
gathering instruction from the raging tempest, which 
seemed to be bursting upon his head. Vain, indeed. 



20 

was the expectation that he, who had invited a person- 
al communication with the forked thunderbolt in its 
greatest fury, should be intimidated by the tongue of 
man, or disturbed in his purpose by impotent abuse, 
though studiously envenomed with all the poison that 
could be extracted from the stores of classical vitupe- 
ration. 

If from the period on which our eye has been fixed, 
we follow the members of that illustrious Congress 
through their subsequent lives — see them in arduous 
foreign employment, managing the most intricate ne- 
gotiations with the trained and experienced statesmen 
and diplomatists of Europe — in high and responsible 
stations at home, speaking the language and maintain- 
ing the rights of their country, or perfecting the in- 
stitutions of her freedom — or in subordinate offices, 
administering and executing the laws — nay, if we look 
even to their individual labours and occupations — we 
shall then be prepared to admit, that in all which con- 
stitutes the real worth of man — in the gifts of nature 
— in the advantages of education and culture — even 
in the lighter acquirements which give currency in 
society — as men, as patriots, and as gentlemen, it is 
but the simple truth to say, that, as a body, the Con- 
gress of 1776 never was equalled. 

Besides this, however, there was an instruction they 
had received, without which, all else might perhaps 
have been of little avail. These colonies had, in sub- 
stance, been free representative republics from the be- 
ginning — subject in name to the dominion of Great 
Britain, but actually managing their most important 
concerns by their own assemblies, with little interfe- 



21 

rence on the part of the parent state. They had con- 
stantly present to their view the image of republican 
government. Republicanism was thus become habitu- 
al, a part of the nature of the inhabitants of the colo- 
nies — an inbred feeling, which was always prompt to 
assert the rights of the colonists, and to resist every 
attempt at encroachment or oppression in whatever 
form it presented itself. From the first effort of Great 
Britain to exercise an unwarranted authority over 
these colonies in the year 1765, the nature of their 
rights and the limits of the just authority of the parent 
state, had been the subject of continual and earnest 
discussion, in the course of which, under the quicken- 
ing influence of a deep and powerful feeling, the minds 
of men became rapidly enlightened as to the true state 
of the question, and along with the lingering doubt of 
their ability to sustain a contest, and a full sense of the 
horrors of a war brought to their doors, there could 
still be discerned, in every quarter of the country, a 
fixed determination, at every hazard, to assert and to 
maintain their freedom. It was this spirit which the 
members of the first Congress carried with them to the 
place of assemblage — it was this spirit which presided 
over their councils — and it was this same spirit, which, 
when memorial and remonstrance had been exhausted, 
solemnly proclaimed from the Hall of Independence, 
that the colonial condition was ended — that in its place 
a nation had come into existence, ready to follow the 
example of the patriots who had bled at Lexington 
and at Bunker's Hill, and, feeble, inexperienced, un- 
disciplined, and unprovided as it was, to maintain the 
justice of its cause, and relying upon the favour of 



22 

Heaven, to meet in hostile combat the gigantic power 
and veteran arms of England. From that day, this na- 
tion dates its existence. The Declaration of Indepen- 
dence is the authentic registry of its birth. 

This common and pervading love of freedom — this 
deep-rooted determination to submit to no encroach- 
ment upon their rights, this universal and clear per- 
ception of the consequences of submitting to an attempt 
on the part of Great Britain to usurp the province of 
their own immediate representatives, this it was, with 
the natural and unavoidable conclusion that in union 
alone there was strength and safety, which caused the 
colonies first to meet in Congress, by delegates charged 
with their authority and instructions. These delegates 
first met at Philadelphia on the 5th September 1774, 
when, as has already been stated, eleven of what are 
called in the Journal ^^ the several colonies and pro- 
vinces in North America," assembled at the Carpen- 
ter's Hall. It is not necessary now to occupy your 
time with an inquiry when, or where, or how, the idea 
of independence and a separate existence first began, 
or by what means it finally obtained the sanction of the 
4th July 1776. The history of this momentous period 
of our country enables us to discover two leading truths, 
of far greater importance in the present times. Free- 
dom was the end and object of our forefathers, and in- 
dependence was the mean to attain it, when every 
thing else had failed. This is the first of these truths. 
^^ Nor have we been wanting," says the Declaration 
of Independence, " in attention to our British breth- 
ren. We have warned them from time to time, of at- 
tempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable 



23 

jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the 
circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. 
We have appealed to their native justice and magna- 
nimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our 
common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which 
would inevitably interrupt our connexions and corres- 
pondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of 
justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, ac- 
quiesce in the necessity which denounces our separa- 
tion, and hold them, as we do the rest of mankind, 
enemies in war, in peace friends." — ^The other is not 
less obvious nor less entitled to our deep and solemn 
attention. As independence was necessary to freedom, 
so was union necessary to independence. Indepen- 
dence was not declared till a thorough union was esta- 
blished. As long as the Congress was composed only 
of the representatives of colonies, continuing to ac- 
knowledge their dependence, and humbly petitioning 
for -a redress of grievances; as long as redress was look- 
ed for, with any hope of obtaining it ; as long as any 
intention remained of returning to their allegiance, if 
their grievances were redressed ; so long was the union 
of their counsels but temporary, to cease when the oc- 
casion for it should no longer exist. But when the pa- 
triotic sages intrusted with the care of their country's 
freedom, began to perceive ^^ the necessity which de- 
nounced a separation," they felt that the vnion must 
be drawn closer, and be made perpetual — till that was 
eifected, independence could not be asserted, nor free- 
dom secured. They saw distinctly that union was as 
necessary to independence, as independence was to 
freedom; and in their enlightened view they were 



24 

but one. They did not, therefore, declare indepen- 
dence till they were ready also to announce an union, 
and when they proclaimed the existence of the nation, 
they proclaimed it with the inseparable and indissolu- 
ble attributes of union, independence, and freedom. 

Up to the date of the Declaration of Independence, 
the members of Congress, as we have seen, were the 
representatives of Colonies, and not of States. Till 
then, no States existed. In that instrument, they style 
themselves, for the first time, the Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
and they declare that these ^^ United Colonies are and 
of right ought to be free and independent States." 
From this it is evident, as would naturally be suppos- 
ed, that the union of the colonies actually preceded 
the Declaration of Independence, and the existence of 
States, and is in truth the oldest of our rights. It was 
the Union that created the States, and not the States 
that created the Union. It is the Union too, be it ever 
remembered, that was as much wrested from England, 
by force of arms, as Independence itself. 

Union, Independence, and Freedom, are what that 
illustrious body of sages and patriots established for 
us, as the lasting pillars of our happiness. Union first, 
and then Independence. It no more entered into their 
minds to conceive that the one could cease, than the 
other. For both they toiled and sulTered. For both 
our fathers fought and bled, and both they have deli- 
vered to us, as the common right of every free citizen 
of the United States, which no power on earth can 
justly require him to part with or surrender. Union, 
as well as Independence and Freedom, is the birth- 



25 

right of every child born in these United States. He 
is born to the inheritance of a nation's glory, to the 
enjoyment of a nation's protection and power, to the 
high privilege of a nation's name, to something to love 
and to honour, to a country upon which he can proud- 
ly fix his affections, in whose prosperity he can rejoice, 
towards which he can direct his eye when abroad, and 
to whose avenging power he can appeal when menaced 
with insult or danger. 

The favour of Heaven — signal as it has been, and 
claiming at all times our most devout gratitude — has 
been in nothing more manifest than in producing this 
Union. The wisdom and patriotism of the first Con- 
gress were above all conspicuous in the means they 
employed to cherish, to strengthen, and consolidate, 
what the hand of Providence had off*ered to their ac- 
ceptance. From the moment of their first assembling, 
it was the dearest object of their concern and care : 
and when, having indissolubly bound it together, they 
pledged " their lives and fortunes and their sacred 
honour," they did so in the name of one united people, 
who were thenceforth to take their equal rank among 
the nations of the earth. ^^When," says that cherish- 
ed instrument, ^* in the course of human events, it 
becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the poli- 
tical bands which have connected them with another, 
and to assume among the nations of the earth the se- 
parate and equal station to which the laws of nature 
and of nature's God entitle them." And again, it says, 
'' appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for 
the rectitude of our intentions, we do, in the name 
and by the authority of the good people of these Co- 



26 

lonieSf solemnly publish and declare," — thus in every 
emphatic passage, when it addresses mankind, and 
when it invokes the aid and favour of Heaven — in its 
resolutions, its appeals, its prayers, speaking with the 
tongue and breathing the devout aspirations of one 
people, and that one, the people of all these colonies. 

From that time forward, from the great epoch of 
the 4th of July, 1776, we have been one people, and 
blessed be the great Dispenser of human events, we 
are still one people. The articles of confederation, 
which followed not very long after the Declaration of 
Independence, are in the same spirit. They are styled 
in the preamble " Articles of Confederacy and per- 
petual UNION." And to establish at once, for every 
individual, the sure ground of national character, and 
of right throughout the Union, they declare that "the 
free inhabitants of each of these States shall be entitled 
to all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the 
several States." 

If more were wanting to illustrate the wisdom and 
patriotism of that matchless representative body, and 
to endear their memory to our hearts, we should find 
it in the fruits of their labours. Scarcely had the an- 
nunciation gone forth, till this Union was formally re- 
ceived into the family of nations, and treaties formed 
with one of the oldest powers of the world — treaties, 
be it remembered, perpetual in their terms and obli- 
gations, and such as a perpetual Union could alone 
enter into. Union gave to our country consideration 
and respect abroad, and entitled her to take her place 
among the nations. Listen to the language of Congress, 
when presenting the articles of '^ confederation and 



27 

perpetual union," in their circular, dated " Yorktown, 
November 17th, 1777." " Let them be examined 
with a liberality becoming brethren and fellow-citi- 
zens surrounded by the same imminent dangers, con- 
tending for the same illustrious prize, and deeply in- 
terested in being/or ever bound and connected together 
by ties the most intimate and indissoluble ; and finally, 
let them be adjusted with the temper and magnanimity 
of wise and patriotic legislators, who, while they are 
concerned for the prosperity of their own more im- 
mediate circle, are capable of rising superior to local 
attachments, when they may be incompatible with the 
safety, happiness, and glory of the general confede- 
racy." * * * ^i More than any other consider- 
ation it will confound our foreign enemies, defeat the 
flagitious practices of the disaffected, strengthen and 
confirm our friends, support our public credit, restore 
the value of our money, enable us to maintain our 
fleets and armies, and add weight and respect to our 
councils at home, and to our treaties abroad.^' * * 
^^It seems essential to our veri/ existence as a free peo- 
ple, and without it, we may soon be constrained to bid 
adieu to independence, to liberty, and safety — bless- 
ings, which, from the justice of our cause, and the 
favour of our Almighty Creator, visibly manifested in 
our protection, we have reason to expect, if, in an 
humble dependence upon his divine providence, we 
strenuously exert the means which are placed in our 
power." 

Union emboldened our countrymen to enter upon 
the hazardous conflict. Union enabled them to carry 
it triumphantly through. When Washington left the 



. 28 

hall of Congress in June, 1775, unanimously elected 
to command the armies of our country, he carried 
with him a commission from ^^ the delegates of the 
United Colonies.^^ " Supported," to use his own 
words, ^^ by a confidence in the rectitude of our cause, 
the support of the supreme power of the Union, and 
the patronage of Heaven,'' he drew his sword in the 
name "and the service of the Union; and when, having 
accomplished the glorious purpose for which he had 
taken the field, he restored that sword to its scabbard, 
he returned his commission, in December, 1783, to the 
representatives of the sovereignty of the Union — to 
" the United States in Congress assembled,'' then ac- 
knowledged by the whole world to be a sovereign and 
independent nation. 

When, in the progress of time, the articles of con- 
federation were found to be insufficient, and especially 
when it was seen that they did not adequately secure 
the Union, the people of the United States, in the same 
spirit which from their first existence as a people had 
governed and guided their feelings and their councils, 
framed the present Constitution of the United States, 
declaring its first object to be "to form a more perfect 
Union." 

In Union, we have found safety, prosperity, and 
honour. With it, we have enjoyed the fullest measure 
of the blessings of independence and freedom. By it, 
we are the heirs of the fame of our ancestors, which 
equally enriches us all, and partake of the common 
glory of being the countrymen of those who have 
earned unfading renown. Union is connected with 
every eventful period in our history — it is inscribed 



29 

upon every glorious achievement in our annals — it is 
the very condition of our existence as a nation — it is 
the condition upon which we hold whatever we vene- 
rate in the past, whatever we enjoy in the present, 
and whatever we hope in the future for ourselves and 
our children. Union is our country. We have never 
known another. Without it — the vision of patriotism 
cannot endure the contemplation of such a scene, but 
turns from it with dismay and horror — without it, we 
may have a spot to live upon, a place to breathe in, 
comforts perhaps even gi'eater than we deserve — but 
we cannot have that country which has been the ob- 
ject of our affections and respect — that glorious coun- 
try, which our fathers redeemed from bondage and 
raised up to be the admiration of the world — that coun- 
try by which we are associated with the heroes and 
sages of the Revolution, and are enabled to say, that 
we are the countrymen of Washington and Franklin — 
that country, which makes us partakers of the favours 
and blessings vouchsafed to her in such rich abund- 
ance, by a gracious Providence, in all the times that 
are past. We may have another — but never, never, 
never, such an one as God in his goodness has given 
us in the day of our fathers. 

That such a representative body was assembled as 
the one our thoughts have been directed to, must be 
ascribed to the character of the people by whom they 
were selected. Wisdom and virtue in the representa- 
tive, where the choice is free, are an argument of wis- 
dom and virtue in those by whom he is chosen. Nor 
is this all. As the measures which in succession were 
adopted by Congress, derived their support from the 



30 

people, and that support was cheerfully granted, at 
whatever cost, it cannot be but that the same senti- 
ments which governed the proceedings of the public 
councils, reigned also in the hearts of the people, and 
reigned with undivided sway. Happy, indeed, must 
they be esteemed, whose fortunate lot it is to act in 
times when one great overruling purpose governs all 
desires, and that one purpose such as justice and pa- 
triotism can warmly espouse. Happier still are they 
who are enabled to accomplish what justice and patri- 
otism command them to undertake. Happiest of all, 
when this successful purpose, looking beyond the ge- 
neration which effects it, seems to find its chief induce- 
ment in the accumulation of blessings for future ages. 
The way of the patriot then, though it may be rugged 
and toilsome, and surrounded with many dangers, is 
cheerful and onward. Animated by the encouraging 
countenance and support of his countrymen, he has 
also the approbation of his own conscience, and can 
appeal with confidence to the protection and favour 
of Heaven. And when his labours are ended, he re- 
tires with the feelings of satisfaction which belong to 
one who has been a benefactor of mankind, and with 
the soothing hope — it cannot be called an infirmity — 
that his memory will be cherished with kindness by 
a grateful posterity, and his example be a guide to the 
footsteps of those who may come after him to take 
charge of the destinies of his country. 

The history of the blessings dispensed to our coun- 
try and to the first Congress, is not yet complete. It 
seems, indeed, as if that era in our annals had been 
permitted by a gracious Providence to be crowned 



31 

with every distinction that could command admiration 
and respect, or endear its memory to the ages that 
were to come. In other revohitions, of any continu- 
ance, it has been remarked, that those who began the 
work have generally fallen victims to the fury of the 
storm they had been instrumental in raising. Even 
when they have escaped with their lives, they have 
generally lost their popularity and their power, and 
often have been doomed not only to suffer degradation 
themselves, but to witness also the destruction of the 
hopes they had conceived for the cause which incited 
them to action. We are not surprised at this. When 
we consider the nature of man and his passions — the 
nature of faction, its headlong rage, and its mad incon- 
stancy — how, when the public feeling ishi^ly wrought, 
fits of blind confidence are rapidly succeeded by fits 
of equally blind hatred and suspicion — how, in moments 
of disappointment, vengeance seeks for objects upon 
which to indulge itself — how, in the midst of excite- 
ment, irregular ambition, with the mask of patriotism, 
is prowling about to take advantage of men's weakness- 
es, and lurking treason watches its occasions to inflict 
a wound — how too, the hand becomes familiar with the 
sword, and how the sword, wielded by a strong arm, 
is apt to make itself the arbiter, and with one confound- 
ing blow, under pretence of terminating the reign of 
disorder, to crush the hopes of freedom by silencing 
its advocates — when we consider these things, and con- 
sider too that the struggle for our independence lasted 
nearly ten years — language is too feeble to express the 
emotion we feel of astonishment, and gratitude, and 
virtuous exultation, when we find that the patriots who 



32 

began the revolution were those who carried it through. 
Some of them, as we have seen, died before its termi- 
nation. But, not one of them perished in any strife 
with his countrymen — not one of them lost the confi- 
dence of his country, nor did one ever desert her in- 
terests, or even incur the suspicion of want of zeal in 
her service. Of all indeed, who were intrusted in any 
department, there was but one who proved a traitor. 
With that solitary exception of a miserable profligate, 
whose name has become synonymous with infamy, and 
unworthy to be mentioned, all, who were living, lived 
with honour. All who were dead, slept in honoured 
graves. One radiant light shone upon them all, when 
the voices, which in the beginning had joined in sup- 
plication for aid and favour in the hour of trial, ascend- 
ed together, at the end, in praises and thanksgiving 
to Him who had given the victory. 

Still the aggregate of their felicity is not fully dis- 
closed. Something remains yet to be said, to exhibit 
the full measure of the reward of their patriotic wis- 
dom and constancy. Many of them were permitted to 
live, as it were, with their posterity — 'to enter with 
them into the enjoyment of the fruits of their toils — 
to witness the growth of their country, and the ex- 
panding influence of her free institutions — and to re- 
ceive the unaffected homage of the increasing millions 
made happy by their patriotic labours. How they 
were honoured, I need not tell you. How they were 
confided in, you well know. Of the members of that 
Congress, six were members of the convention which 
formed the present Constitution of the United States. 
Two were Presidents of the United States. One was 



33 

Vice-President, and many others were appointed to 
stations of the highest trust and confidence. Their 
country never grew weary of exhibiting her grateful 
sense of their services and their virtues. 

Shall we here conclude this slight and imperfect 
sketch of the extraordinary happiness, which was the 
reward of these illustrious men? One yet remains, 
greater than all the rest. They lived in the faith, and 
they were permitted to die in the persuasion, that 
whatever other chastisement might befall their beloved 
country, she was not doomed to suffer the affliction of 
disunion. The father of his country, in the inestima- 
ble legacy of advice and instruction, he bequeathed 
to us when he took leave of public employment, dwelt 
with parental solicitude upon the vital topic of union. 
He warned us that it would be assailed " by internal 
and external enemies, constantly and actively, though 
often covertly and insidiously." And while he warned, 
he exhorted us ^* to frown indignantly upon the first 
dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of 
our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred 
ties that now link together its various parts." He 
could not but feel assured that such advice would be 
obeyed, and that one indignant and withering frown 
would settle on him, who openly and directly, or '^ co- 
vertly and insidiously,^^ under whatever name or pre- 
text, should aim a dagger at the heart of his country, 
by seeking to destroy or to ^^ enfeeble" the Union. 
Adams and Jefferson, though they lived to the end of 
the fiftieth year, breathed their last breath among a peo- 
ple firmly united, and rejoicing in their union. And 
Carroll — he who outlived them all — was he in this re- 



34 

spect less happy than the rest ? Was his aged heart 
disturbed by the fear that the exhortation of Washing- 
ton might prove to be unavailing? Was the dim sight 
of the venerable survivor afflicted with visions of ruin 
to his country — his ear invaded with strange words, 
of spurious coinage, and of evil augury, unknown to 
the vocabulary of the patriots and sages of the Revo- 
lution? Believe it not. The last pulsation of that heart 
had in it a remnant of the vigour of the Congress of 
1776. That eye had been accustomed to look through 
gloom and darkness, and see beyond, a glorious light. 
That ear had heard the threats of confiscation and the 
halter, and did not heed them. Standing upon the 
rock of the Union, with Washington and Franklin and 
Hancock and Adams and Jefferson and their illustri- 
ous associates, he had braved the power of the British 
empire in arms against his infant country, and in Union 
had found safety and triumph. The storm had raged 
around them, but the rock was immoveable. Could 
such a man be suddenly persuaded, that madness had 
overtaken one portion of his countrymen, and degene- 
rate fear another? I say again, believe it not. Let us 
be assured, that he too was permitted to depart with 
the unshaken and firm conviction, that there was still 
enough of the spirit of the Revolution to preserve its 
work. 

In this imperfect and hasty glance at the composi- 
tion, character, and services of the illustrious band, 
who stood forward as the representatives of the Union, 
to assert, and at every hazard to maintain the inde- 
pendence of our country, it will at once be perceived, 
that little more has been attempted than to point to 



35 

the sources of information, and to invite to a more 
thorough examination of them. It is well for us to 
dwell, and to dwell frequently and earnestly, upon all 
"that belongs to that period — to study it, to fill our 
minds and our hearts with it, not as a theme of dis- 
course and panegyric merely, but as a living principle 
of action, a deep and fixed instruction, something en- 
tering into our very organization, and made a part of 
our nature, so as to determine instinctively all our 
conduct in relation to our country. Nothing else will 
secure to us the continuance of the blessings we en- 
joy. Without it, the forms of free government may 
be but a dead letter. Look at our nearest neighbour, 
a nation, which, like our own, has passed from a colo- 
nial state to independence, and framed for herself a 
constitution as nearly as possible resembling that under 
which we are in the possession of peace and freedom. 
Can you discern in her present condition any thing 
which deserves to be called the working of a free con- 
stitution? At this very moment, the question of who 
shall wield the power of the State, is depending not 
upon the result of an election by the citizens, but upon 
the issue of battles between contending armies. The 
sword, instead of the ballot box, is again to decide the 
controversy, as it has done twice within the last five 
years. 

How different has been the lot of that happy coun- 
try which we are permitted to call our own. The 
sword has never been drawn in it, but against a com- 
mon, public enemy. Wherever arms were seen, the 
flag of the Union floated over them, and was the sign 
in which all conquered. In every victory that has 



. 36 

been gained, all could rejoice, for it has never been 
a victory over our own countrymen. We have differ- 
ed about men, and we have differed about measures, 
but always in a spirit of submission to the Constitution, 
and of attachment to the Union. And when, according 
to the fundamental law of free government, the will of 
a majority has been constitutionally declared, as to men 
or as to measures, we have peacefully acquiesced. 
The voice of every one is heard, but the voice of the 
majority must govern. This is the great pervading 
vital principle of all our constitutions. Whatever may 
be the distribution of powers, however they may be 
modified in their investment or exercise, from one 
great source, they are all derived — from a majority of 
the people. That such a government, so simple in its 
structure, so clear in its purpose, should be found 
adequate to all the legitimate objects for which go- 
vernment is instituted among men, who can doubt? 
Look around upon this land — trace its progress from 
the moment when it shook off the trammels of colonial 
subjection, and started in the career of independent 
national existence — what has the world ever seen that 
can be compared to it? What does the world now con- 
tain that bears any resemblance to it? The eyes of 
mankind are fixed upon us with earnest attention, 
watching the great experiment. Will it succeed? For 
more than fifty years it has succeeded. It has outlived 
the longest liver of those who united to establish it. 
They are now all in their graves. Their work still 
survives them — the same which they created, and 
bearing the same impress as in the beginning, Ihiion, 
Independence, Freedom. Why shall it not stand? We 



37 

are stronger than they were in numbers and in wealth. 
Are we weaker in wisdom and in virtue? Are we less 
able to appreciate the blessings provided for us, less 
willing to make the exertions necessary for preserving 
them? A doubt implies degeneracy. It supposes a 
want of enlightened patriotism — an unaccountable 
blindness to our own true interests — an incredible in- 
difference to the happiness of those who are to come 
after us — an unheard of insensibility to the great trust 
committed to our keeping. For sure it is, that if ever 
this glorious fabric should fall to ruins — which may 
Heaven in its mercy forbid — it must be because there 
is not wisdom and virtue enough to support it. The 
age in which it perishes, will be the opposite of that 
in which it was constructed ; and as the one has earn- 
ed undying fame, the other will merit universal exe- 
cration. 

From thoughts like these, let us endeavour to find 
consolation and assurance in the careful and constant 
study of the past — applying our hearts to extract from 
it lessons that may keep alive our vigilance, and in 
every exigency remind us of our duty. Our greatest 
danger may perhaps be found to lie in what would 
seem to be our chief happiness. Our ancestors had to 
struggle with adversity. We are to guard against the 
seductions of prosperity, an enemy not less to be dread- 
ed. It blinds and lulls us with a false security, and 
thus enfeebles and unnerves us, until, at last, nothing 
is desired but ease. It is not in the order of Providence 
that blessings should be secured or preserved, without 
exertion and watchfulness. The moment when they 
are most likely to be lost, is that in which, with a slum- 



. 38 

beriiig and imperfect sense of their value, there is an 
utter want of all sense of their exposure to risk. Per- 
haps it may be a new mercy to our country, if occa- 
sionally we should be aroused by some alarm, requir- 
ing us to examine more carefully into our condition, 
to cling more closely to the spirit of the institutions 
which are the foundation of our happiness, and to en- 
deavour to inspire our hearts with that true and active 
and enlightened patriotism, which shed its benignant 
influence over the early history of our nation. If such 
a period be now come, who can deny that it is accom- 
panied with the most affecting and impressive circum- 
stances? The cloud seems to be gathering directly 
over the grave of the last of the signers, as if it had 
waited till death had closed his eyes, leaving the past 
all bright and radiant, and over the future, stretching 
a curtain of darkness. 

It would ill befit the present occasion to inquire 
how this sudden change has been wrought. We are 
assembled for other purposes. We are here to com- 
mune with the illustrious dead, whose names are asso- 
ciated with the bright period of our history, and espe- 
cially to commemorate that one of them who was per- 
mitted to outlive the rest, and, as the survivor, for 
years beyond the ordinary period of man's life, to en- 
joy the undivided reverence and affection of a grate- 
ful country. 

Of the men who have acted a distinguished part in 
public affairs, no one can be selected, who, looking 
only to his personal condition, would seem to have had 
less motive for desiring a change, than Charles Carroll 
of Carrollton. He was born at Annapolis in Maryland, 



39 

on the 20th September 1737. His grandfather, an 
Irishman by birth, came to this country in 1691. His 
father was a man of great wealth, and Charles Carroll 
of Carrollton was born to an inheritance, which might 
well be called princely. His education was luxurious, 
if such a term can ever be applied to what is bestowed 
in the culture and discipline of the mind or the for- 
mation of character — it is meant however only to de- 
note, that the judicious affection of his father, provided 
for him every advantage which seemed to be proper 
for enabling him to enter upon life as became the po- 
sition he was to occupy. At a very early age he was 
sent to Europe. There he was placed in a college of 
English Jesuits at St. Omers. After remaining in that 
institution for six years, he was placed in a college at 
Rheims. Thence, in about a year, he was sent to the 
college of Louis Le Grand. From Louis Le Grand, at 
the expiration of two years, he went to Bourges to stu- 
dy the civil law, and after remaining there for one 
year, returned to Paris, where he remained till 1757. 
In that year he went to London, and commenced the 
study of the law in the Temple. In 1764, he returned 
to his native country, at the age of twenty-seven. 

Soon after this period, the questions between the 
colonies and the mother country began to be agitated. 
The pen of Carroll was among the first that were ac- 
tively and successfully engaged on the side of the co- 
lonies. After the stamp act was repealed, there was 
a moment of seeming calm. But even then it was easy 
to perceive, that the spirit which had been raised, was 
by no means quieted. There was a watchful jealousy 
awakened, and though the great point which had first 



40 

roused it into action was withdrawn, yet it manifested 
itself continually, upon every occasion when the liberty 
or rights of the citizen seemed to be encroached upon. 
Such was the occasion which gained for Mr. Carroll 
his first signal distinction. The Governor of Maryland 
undertook to settle a table of fees by proclamation. It 
was supported by its friends as a just exertion of pre- 
rogative. On the other side, it was opposed as an at- 
tempt to tax without the consent of the people's repre- 
sentatives, and an arbitrary and unjustifiable assump- 
tion of power. Among its advocates was one, who, in 
the form of a dialogue between two citizens, the first 
of whom opposed the proclamation, and the second 
supported it, gave the whole argument, and of course 
the victory, to the latter. Mr. Carroll took up the ar- 
gument which had thus been purposely betrayed, and 
under the signature of the " First Citizen," exhibited 
a power and a patriotic energy which immediately en- 
gaged universal attention. One sentence particularly, 
which is quoted in his biography, shows how his mind 
was already ripened in patriotic decision, and impress- 
ed with that deliberate firmness which characterized 
the subsequent proceedings of our country. ^^ What 
was done?" he exclaims: " The authority of the chief 
magistrate interposed, and took the decision of this 
important question from the other branches of the le- 
gislature, to itself. In a land of freedom^ this arbi- 
trary exertion of prerogative, will not, must not, be 
endured,^^ Thanks from all quarters were addressed 
to the virtuous champion of the rights of the citizen, 
and Mr. Carroll rose at once to the highest station in 
the confidence of the people. 



41 

In this resolute determination he continued. The 
accomplishments of education, the goods of fortune, 
the rank they enabled him to assume, were devoted 
for his country, with an entire disregard of the sacri- 
fice his devotion might require, of ease, of enjoyment, 
of wealth, perhaps even of life itself. In a letter to a 
member of Parliament, who, in writing to him, had 
asserted that six thousand English soldiers would march 
from one end of the continent to the other, he made 
this memorable reply. ^^ So they may, but they will 
be masters only of the spot on which they encamp. 
They will find nought but enemies before and around 
them. Jf we are beaten on the plains, ive will retreat 
to the mountains and defy them. Our resources will 
increase with our difiiculties. Necessity will force us 
to exertion; until tired of combating in vain, against 
a spirit, which victory after victory cannot subdue, 
your armies will evacuate our soil, and your country 
retire, an immense loser, from the contest. No sir — 
we have made up our minds to abide the issue of the 
approaching struggle, and though much blood may be 
spilt, we have no doubt of our ultimate success." 
Nursed as he had been in the lap of tenderness, he 
was made of the hardy material which forms a patriot, 
and willing with his country to abide the issue of her 
struggle for freedom. 

In January 1775, he was appointed a member of the 
first committee of observation established at Annapolis, 
and in the same year was elected a delegate in the pro- 
vincial Convention. In February 1776, his talents and 
his services in the general cause being well known. 
Congress conferred on him, thoiigh not a member, the 

F 



42 

distinguished honour of associating him with Doctor 
Franklin and Samuel Chase, as Commissioners to Ca- 
nada to endeavour to induce the inhabitants to join in 
opposition to Great Britain. The nature and impor- 
tance of that commission, and the magnitude of its 
powers, sufficiently attest the extensive confidence re- 
posed in him. 

From Canada he returned to the Convention, and 
there exerted himself with all his power, to obtain a 
withdrawal of the instructions by which the delegates 
of Maryland in Congress had been forbidden to concur 
in declaring the colonies free and independent States. 
They were withdrawn, and on the second of July 1776, 
the delegates from Maryland were in possession of au- 
thority to vote for independence. 

In July 1776, he was elected a delegate to Congress, 
but before he left the Convention to take his seat in 
that body, he had the satisfaction of seeing the decla- 
ration of the Convention of Maryland published to the 
world, associating her fully with the other colonies 
in the great contest for independence. 

But why should we further pursue this detail? His 
highest eulogy is pronounced in saying he was a sign- 
er of the Declaration of Independence — his character 
and his services are best portrayed by the statement, 
that he was worthy to be associated with the body from 
whom that declaration issued. To that eminence, as 
we have seen, he fairly won his way by his talents and 
his patriotism — by a career of animated and perilous 
exertion, beginning with the first attempts upon the 
freedom of his country, and continued throughout with 
unabated zeal and perseverance. The reputation of 



43 

wealth, and even his unusually protracted life, may 
have in some degree obscured his just fame. There 
may be those, who, looking carelessly into the history 
of the past, are induced to believe, that riches were 
his chief distinction, and the tranquil repose of his 
long serene evening, extending so far beyond the com- 
mon length of life, characteristic of his former habits. 
Nothing can be more erroneous. In personal qualities 
and exertions, Charles Carroll of Carrollton was of the 
full stature of the eventful times in which he acted. 
In zeal and determination he was unsurpassed. He 
neither sought repose, nor shrunk from danger, nor 
clung to his possessions, nor listened to the seductive 
temptations to enjoy in indolence his individual advan- 
tages — but with the steady and uncompromising spirit 
which distinguishes the period, could sincerely join 
with the patriots, who declared, " We have counted 
the cost, and find nothing intolerable but slavery." 
He is entitled to a full portion of our gratitude. 

As he was for many years the single representative 
on earth of the Congress of 1776, his grave seems to 
be the grave of the whole. It is finally closed, and we 
are assembled around it for the last time. What they 
have left to us, is now entirely ours — ours to enjoy, 
and ours, be it remembered, with the favour of Provi- 
dence, to preserve. It becomes us seriously and earn- 
estly to consider what this great inheritance is, and 
with resolute firmness to determine that what we can 
do, we will do, to preserve it. The path of duty is 
plain before us — we have more than a single star to 
guide our footsteps — we have a brilliant constellation, 
set in the political firmament on the 4th of July 1776, 



. 44 

and all over resplendent with the light of Union. That 
is the light which embraces us all^ and belongs to us 
all, and exhibits us to the world as the ^^ One People" 
who declared themselves an independent nation. That 
it may be resolved into its elements, and these be hurl- 
ed in mad confusion against each other, destroying and 
destroyed, until chaotic darkness be come again, is as 
true as that Heaven for our sins may withdraw from 
us protection and support, and leave us to our own 
blind weakness. But that man can do this, and not be 
an enemy of his country, is as difficult to conceive, as 
that he can do it and not undo the work of the Revo- 
lution — as that he can do it and not destroy our hopes, 
and bring upon us a train of dire affliction and calami- 
ty, of which even the child unborn is to taste the bit- 
terness. If blood be shed again, except under the flag 
of the Union, it can never mingle with that blood, 
which consecrated our land when men marched to 
battle with Washington to lead them. It will not pro- 
duce the same fruits. Armed men will grow up out of 
this peaceful soil — not such men as put on armour to 
establish the union, the independence, and the free- 
dom of their country, and laid it down when her liber- 
ties were secured — but men supplied with fury's arms, 
with the destroying rage, called military ambition, 
with the lust of dominion, and its dismal progeny, 
whose procession is closed with the despot and his 
bloody "sword. Brother will be seen fighting against 
brother, and father against son, all wounding the bo- 
som of their parent country, and with every blow 
striking down her constitution, her laws, and her free- 
dom. 



45 

Our part is clear. Union is our country, and we are 
on the side of our country, her constitution, her au- 
thorities, and laws. Within the temple of Union are 
the graves of our ancestors. We will not consent that 
the glorious fabric shall be torn down — we cannot con- 
sent that the graves of our fathers shall be divided. 
No: Let us supplicate the continued protection of 
Heaven, with a devout and earnest spirit, and let our 
prayer be, that our descendants, to the remotest pos- 
terity, may be able, together to make their pilgrimage 
in peace, as we have this day done, to the tombs of 
the departed patriots, and find them still united, in 
one country, and in one Union, watched over, and 
guarded, and reverenced by One People. God in His 
mercy forbid that more should be required of us. But 
if the extremity must come, the voice from those 
tombs will tell us. That Union is our Country. 



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